Micron $MU Technology stock was up 18% in premarket trading on Thursday after the chipmaker's fiscal third-quarter results cleared analysts' targets on nearly every key measure, with the company projecting that the memory-chip shortage will persist past 2027.
Broader markets caught a lift from the news. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 116 points, or 0.2%, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.7% and Nasdaq $NDAQ 100 futures jumped 2.1%.
The rally spread across the semiconductor sector. An upward revision to Qualcomm $QCOM's non-handset revenue outlook for fiscal 2029 pushed its shares 10% higher. Among other chipmakers, Sandisk and Western Digital $WDC climbed at least 12% apiece, while equipment makers Lam Research $LRCX, KLA, and Applied Materials $AMAT were also swept up in the advance.
Memory peers outside the U.S. followed suit. Micron's two largest global memory rivals also advanced, with Samsung Electronics adding 5% on the Korean exchange and SK Hynix surging 13% in overseas markets. In Asia, the Kospi in South Korea topped regional indexes with a 5.42% jump, and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 climbed 4.61%. Across the Atlantic, European semiconductor names including ASMI, Be Semiconductor, and Soitec moved higher, helping push the pan-European Stoxx 600 up 0.61%.
Oil's continued slide offered markets an additional tailwind. Brent crude futures have retreated to just a fraction above their price at the outset of the Middle East conflict.
Wall Street's focus on Thursday morning will also include the May PCE price index — the inflation measure the Federal Reserve watches most closely — with forecasts calling for a 4.1% annual rise and a 0.5% gain from the prior month. The core version of the index, which excludes food and energy, is seen climbing 3.4% from a year earlier and 0.3% from April — figures that would mark an acceleration from the prior month's 3.3% annual and 0.2% monthly readings. Ahead of the data release, the 10-year Treasury note was yielding 4.414%, having ticked up by a single basis point.
Thursday's data calendar also includes a revised GDP estimate for the first quarter, along with May personal income figures, a preliminary durable goods report, and jobless claims covering the week through June 20.